


In a Strange Land

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Firefly
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiverse Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-15
Updated: 2006-08-15
Packaged: 2017-10-21 23:11:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a relief to be somewhere they ain't wanted criminals, but it still ain't safe. 'Specially not now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In a Strange Land

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Mousapelli, Amberlynne, and Bethy for listening to me babble about this for days. Thanks to Flora for betaing. All errors are mine. Written for _bounce_ in the Multiverse ficathon.

Zoe has just completed her first turn around the perimeter when she hears rustling in the scrub. "Sir," she whispers into the comm, "we have company."

"Frak."

The new cusswords are probably the only thing Mal has taken to on this rock, and Zoe can't blame him. When she's worn out from working or half-asleep in their tent, she can almost believe they're camped out on one of the border moons, lying low and waiting for the Alliance to pass them by. But then she gets a glimpse at the night sky, and the stars are strange, the air is cold, and the people....

She remembers the refugee camps early on in the war, folk leaving everything they had behind trying to get to safe ground, still hopeful things would work out in the end, that they'd have something to go back to. She remembers the internment camps after the war, months of living behind barbed wire fences, surviving on moldy protein and fetid water and sheer force of will, knowing there was nothing left to go back to, that the only way out was through. There were others, the ones who gave up and died of despair, if not dysentery, but she and Mal both had been too damned stubborn for that, and hope had finally taken root in them again.

Up until two weeks ago, these people reminded her of the first group--shell-shocked but still standing, ready to start over on this chilly rock they called New Caprica.

Then the Cylons showed up.

They ain't yet talked about what happens next, but she knows it's been preying on Mal's mind, keeping them both up at night.

The bushes rustle again, and Zoe raises the shotgun and aims; at this range, she's pretty sure shotgun shells will damage a centurion, and they'll shred the human models, same as they do real human beings.

A stocky, bearded man rises from the bushes. Zoe recognizes him--he's the union chief Kaylee works for. "Is Dr. Tam here?" he asks softly.

She can feel Mal behind her right shoulder before he says, "Who wants to know?"

Two more shapes rise from the bushes--a blonde woman ( _soldier_ , Zoe thinks) who looks vaguely familiar, and a dark-haired woman, who doubles over with a soft cry.

"My wife is in labor," Tyrol says, "and it's not safe to see Doc Cottle."

"Kaylee said Dr. Tam would help my baby," the pregnant girl says. She don't look much older than Kaylee, even with her face worn and twisted in pain.

" _Gaoyang zhong de guying,_ " Mal mutters. "Kaylee needs to keep her gorram mouth shut."

They exchange a look, calculating the odds of this being a trap, and the girl groans again, clutching at her belly.

"Look," the blonde says, hand resting on the butt of her gun, "we can do this the easy way or--"

"No need for the other," River says, slipping out from behind the tent. "Simon's inside, waiting."

The blonde raises her gun, wild-eyed in a way she wasn't just a second ago, but Zoe, Mal, and River all have her in their sights.

"Frakking toasters," she mutters, gaze shifting if she's trying to decide which of them to shoot first.

"Let's not do anything stupid," Mal says.

Zoe hopes he takes his own advice. She can take out Tyrol and the blonde easily enough, but she's not sure Mal could actually shoot a pregnant woman. She's not sure she could, either. She don't like that she's at a point where she's even considering it. And it's the kind of thing she can't imagine leaving to River.

"Our Simon's not a Cylon," River says. "He's my brother." She lowers her gun and goes to the pregnant girl, ignoring everyone else. "Come inside. It's not a trap." She wraps an arm around the girl and leads her between the tents. Tyrol follows.

"Frak." The blonde doesn't move, doesn't lower her weapon, and Zoe can see the fear in her eyes, in her shoulders, though her hands are steady.

Zoe eyes her curiously, trying to fit a name or situation to the face. In the two months since they've been here, they've all been working, helping to build this new world, trying to earn or scavenge what they need to get Serenity fit to fly again (ain't a big enough settlement to support stealing), and get back where they belong. Outside of work, she and Mal have kept mostly to themselves, but Kaylee and Jayne have been more sociable--Jayne especially. These folk are keen to reproduce, and Jayne's been spreading his love around, which don't bear thinking on, so she tries not to. Tries not to think about her own empty womb, either, when she and Mal huddle for warmth of a night. Just their luck to arrive in a place don't have the right fuel to power Serenity during a winter don't seem to end.

They play cards when they ain't working--the games are different here, but not so different they ain't had some success, occasionally winning scarce supplies they can't buy or trade for, and that's when it clicks.

"I remember you," Zoe says, lowering her shotgun. "You're the one Jayne lost all his cigars to." She smiles then, and jerks her head at the tents. "Have to thank you for that. Come inside. This could take a while."

"Zoe--"

It's a warning, but she ignores it, sounds innocent when she says, "Sir?"

He shakes his head and holsters his gun. " _Gui jiu_."

She stops herself from rolling her eyes. "Yes, sir. I take full responsibility." She turns, flips up the flap of their tent in invitation. "I think we can brew up some tea. Kara, right?"

Kara smiles tightly and though she lowers her gun, she doesn't put it away. "Yeah." She walks past Zoe, following the path River took between the tents.

"Hey!" Mal says, but she ignores him. He and Zoe exchange a glance and hurry after her. "You sure about this?" he murmurs.

Zoe nods. "Even if I weren't, River would know."

"True," he says, but he doesn't look happy about it. "Using fuel we don't got to run the infirmary, though." She stops, puts her hands on her hips. "Don't give me that look. I ain't begrudging the girl medical care. I just--We're so close."

She opens her mouth to respond, to say what she knows he has to know (and pretending he don't won't bring nothing but more trouble), but they're in the common area now, can hear the girl's ragged crying and her husband's encouragement, and the low, reassuring murmur of Simon's voice coming from the infirmary. And if he don't want to talk about it, she's not going to force him. Not until she has to.

"She's a beauty, ain't she?" Kaylee's wrapped in a blanket, sleepy-eyed, but she beams at Kara, who's looking around curiously.

"You're the mechanic? Cally's friend?" Kaylee nods. "The chief's mentioned you. Says you're a genius with machines."

"Yeah, our girl's got a real gift," Mal says, putting his hands on Kaylee's shoulders. "Kept this old heap in the air a long time. Kaylee, why don't you go get some tea for our guest." He gives her a little shove, and she sticks her tongue out at him as she heads up the stairs.

"Yes, sir."

Kara turns to Mal. "You're the captain?"

"Malcolm Reynolds." He holds out a hand. She doesn't take it.

She looks from him to Zoe. "Cally said you two fought in the war together, but you're nowhere near old enough."

"Didn't say which war," Zoe says, crossing her arms, silently cursing Kaylee for chattering. Girl's too gorram friendly for her own good. It's a relief to be somewhere they ain't wanted criminals, but it still ain't safe. 'Specially not now.

"There's only one that matters." Kara trails a hand along the railing, moves around the room.

"You got your priorities, we got ours," Mal replies.

"Saving humanity from the Cylons is the only priority," Kara says. "I don't--" She stops, rubs her fingers over the fake leather of one of the easy chairs. "You're not from here."

"Ain't nobody _from_ here," Mal starts, but Kara shakes her head.

"This ship wasn't with the fleet. I've never seen one like it before." She taps the exposed pipes next to the entrance to the infirmary. "It's not a Colonial design."

"And you're an expert?"

"I was the best Viper pilot in the fleet, Captain," she says, smirking. "Which you'd know if you'd been there."

"Well, you ain't recruiting Kaylee," Mal says, and he crosses his arms, as well. "Ain't letting her near your gorram resistance, or whatever you're calling it."

She raises her gun. "So I should shoot you for being a collaborator?"

"Ain't that, either. So you caught us. We're not from here. We're just trying to get enough fuel to get back where we came from. Got our own share of trouble to be dealing with," he says. "Don't need to add yours to it."

"You already have," she says, and Zoe knows it's the truth, even if Mal's still trying to deny it. "The doctor and the mechanic--they'd both be useful against the Cylons."

"Neither of them are, or ever were, soldiers. I don't want them involved in any rutting war," Mal says.

"And that's your decision to make for them?"

"More mine than yours."

"Do you know what they did to us?" She doesn't wait for an answer. "Do you know what they'd do to your mechanic, to the other girl, the one helping the doctor?" She swings around to face Zoe, voice rising. "To you? Do you know what they did to me?" She unzips her pants, shows off a scar on her abdomen that sends a sharp chill down Zoe's spine. "They were going to harvest my ovaries, use me as an incubator. It could be any one of you next." She looks back at Mal. "You want them involved in _that_?"

Mal swallows hard, and his voice is hoarse when he says, "Of course not." He looks up, and Zoe tracks his gaze, sees Kaylee standing frozen at the top of the stairs, steaming mugs of tea in hand, fear etched on her face.

Kaylee comes down the stairs slowly. "If there's some way we can help--"

"Ain't the time for that discussion, Kaylee." Mal ruffles her hair, then rests his hand on her shoulder, giving and taking comfort the only way he can at the moment. Zoe sometimes wishes it was that easy for her.

"We're all that's left of humanity," Kara presses. "Forty thousand people, and they'd wipe us off the face of the universe if they could. Now is the only time; this is the only discussion."

"Not all that's left," River says, peeking out from the doorway of the infirmary, and Zoe wonders what the Cylons would do to _her_ , then gives herself a mental shake. Can't be thinking on that--dilutes her focus, makes her vulnerable.

" _O, zhe zhen shi ge kuaile de jinzhan._ " Mal mutters.

River grins and disappears back into the infirmary.

Kaylee hands the mug of tea to Kara, who takes it with a small smile, makes her look young for a second. "I never worked on any robots or nothing," Kaylee says, "but River and Simon and me--I bet we could figure stuff out 'bout the Cylons--I mean, before we go. Ain't got that FTL drive installed quite right yet. Gonna need to test her. So we got time."

Zoe looks at Mal, and Mal looks down, away. "Got more time than that," she says finally, when he doesn't.

"Cap'n?" Kaylee says, looking at him like he can make all their troubles disappear. It's a look that keeps him awake nights, and nowadays, Zoe's the one trying to get him to sleep.

He cups her face, runs his thumb over her cheek, gentle, as if he can make the words less devastating when he says, "We might not be going back at all, little Kaylee."

"I know I can make the FTL drive work with Serenity's systems, Cap'n."

"Ain't that, _baobei_. Cylons' arrival changed everything."

Kara looks like she's going to say something, and Zoe shakes her head, hopes she takes the hint.

"Inara's been waiting all this time for us to come back," Kaylee says, pleading. "And the Cylons don't even know we're here."

"No, but if we take off now," Zoe says, "they will, and they can track us." She touches the leather cord around her throat, her own form of comfort. Kaylee's eyes widen; girl's not stupid, for all that she ain't had much schooling. "It's why Kara here ain't asked us more about where we're from. Knows it's a fool's hope, for now at least."

"If I'd've worked faster--" Kaylee starts, but Mal takes her by the shoulders, shakes her gently.

"None of that, now," he says. "No way you could've known--none of us could've. Just bad luck is all." He lets her go, turns away. "Seems like the only kind we got anymore."

"Kaylee, why don't you show Kara the rest of the ship," Zoe says. "She's a pilot; she might like to see the bridge."

Kaylee looks from her to Mal and then nods. "Come on," she says. "Best pilot in the fleet oughta meet the prettiest ship."

Zoe waits until they're out of earshot, but moves closer to Mal and keeps her voice low anyway. "Seems to me, getting rid of the Cylons is the best chance we've got to get home." He doesn't answer, and won't meet her gaze, either. "Mal." She touches his arm. "I know you know this. Pretending it ain't so don't make it go away."

He finally looks her in the eye. "I know." She moves her hand away, but he grabs it, squeezes it tight. Another thing that's changed since they've been here. "I know it, Zoe, but I don't like it."

"Nothing new in that."

"Ain't that the truth." He gives her hand one more squeeze, then lets it go. "One more fight we can't win. You up for it?"

"Always, sir."

He smiles, then, and shakes his head. "I just want you to remember, you're taking full responsibility."

She smiles back. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

As she follows him up the stairs to tell Kara about his change of heart, the sound of a baby announcing its presence to the world echoes through the ship.

end

~*~


End file.
